How amusing is this... Right when I decide to start a full frontal assualt on Microsoft and .Net on this blog is JUST when my old boss and blog-buddy Peter Drayton announces his big news:

During the past couple of weeks I've made references to impending personal changes. The time has come to share some very exciting news (for me at least!) with the ~2 people who read this weblog on a regular basis :-).

Starting November 4, I'm going to be joining Microsoft as a Program Manager in the CLR team, doing my bit to "ensure that the CLR remains the most innovative multi-language runtime in the industry". Specifically, I'll be working with both the internal compiler teams and the external academic research community to help identify, evaluate, prototype & productize future enhancements to the CLR. Formerly described by me as my Dream Job, it is a perfect fit for my interests: it involves a high-ish % of externally-facing work interacting with the research community and speaking/writing about the CLR & Rotor, lets me spend time working at the systems level with the CLR & Rotor, and requires me to stretch my commercial software development muscles again after almost 2 years of shipping mostly prose and slides. Most importantly, the job gives me an opportunity to actually *impact* the platform I've spent the last couple years of my life working on.

Doing my part to contribute to the "giant sucking sound" Chris referred to (for the "visceral experience", I might add), Julie & I are moving to Seattle. New city, new environment, new everything. What an adventure! Working on the assumption that other people might find it interesting, I'll share my relocation experiences here (subject to the constraints of NDAs and propriety, of course).

Of course, this all means there should be at least *one* CLR blogger RSN... :-)

Regardless of my opinions of Microsoft, I think it's great for Peter that he's got this opportunity! It's kick ass really... Way to go Peter! I really hope the best for you!!

Wow, with smart guys like Peter on board at MS, it means even that much more competition for the Java platform, believe me.

Actually, Peter IMed me this morning from a conference where he's speaking in Orlando. At that moment, my boss called me into a surprise meeting about some server problems we're having here (of all things, a wacky crashing JVM on HP-UX...) so I couldn't finish the chat. Basically, I think, Peter would love to rip me a new one on his blog, but after this announcement, he's afraid he's not going sound particularly impartial. ;-)

I'd love to hear his thoughts, even so - it's always good to hear an opponent's position - especially someone as close to the code as Peter. Also, he hasn't been indoctrinated just yet so for a few weeks more yet I'm sure he's got some very interesting thoughts! (They probably have scheduled the soul-removal for sometime around the 5th... I'm sure it wasn't a prerequisite for employment... JUST KIDDING!)

It's sort of cool that I know Peter. It's easy to imagine a faceless, nameless borg called Microsoft, but when you actually have been in contact with someone who's going to be actively developing the technology you've been ranting about, you get a little perspective. I'm still 100% pro Java and anti-Microsoft, but now I know they're not all devil spawn up in Redmond. ;-)

And well, for future reference, everyone should my late night rantings on this blog with a grain of salt. Maybe a tablespoon... ;-)